Over 700 newly recognized bird species have been assessed for the latest update of The IUCN Red List of Threatened SpeciesTM, and 11% of them are threatened with extinction. The update also reveals a devastating decline for the giraffe, driven by habitat loss, civil unrest and illegal hunting. The global giraffe population has plummeted by up to 40% over the last 30 years, and the species has been listed as Vulnerable on the IUCN Red List.

Extinctions related to climate change have already happened in hundreds of plant and animal species around the world. New research shows that local extinctions have already occurred in 47% of the 976 plant and animal species studied.

Mobile-money services have had notable long-term effects on poverty reduction in Kenya -- especially among female-headed households -- and have inspired a surprising occupation shift among women, outlines a new report.

Researchers have identified a common mechanism underlying separate forms of dystonia, a family of brain disorders that cause involuntary, debilitating and often painful movements, including twists and turns of different parts of the body. The research has led to the development of a new cell-based test that is being deployed on a large scale to identify new drug candidates to treat dystonia.

One of the most sophisticated networks of acoustic detectors ever developed for wildlife science has documented a devastating 34 percent per year decline of Mexico's critically endangered vaquita porpoise, according to a new study. A companion article uses both acoustic and visual surveys to estimate that only about 60 vaquitas remained, as of last year.

What we see in the periphery, just outside the direct focus of the eye, may sometimes be a visual illusion, according to new findings. The findings suggest that even though our peripheral vision is less accurate and detailed than what we see in the center of the visual field, we may not notice a qualitative difference because our visual processing system actually fills in some of what we 'see' in the periphery.